Gmlb256 wrote on 2023-01-23, 00:17:

danieljm wrote on 2023-01-22, 08:10:

SB Pro 2 CT1600 - Two of them! On the same day! How does that even happen?

Two different revisions of the SBPro2 CT1600 and the left one has an oscillator crystal onboard to boot! 😁

That's interesting. I'll be honest, I don't know what it means though. Does it make them different in any meaningful way?

danieljm wrote on 2023-01-23, 09:24:

Gmlb256 wrote on 2023-01-23, 00:17:

danieljm wrote on 2023-01-22, 08:10:

SB Pro 2 CT1600 - Two of them! On the same day! How does that even happen?

Two different revisions of the SBPro2 CT1600 and the left one has an oscillator crystal onboard to boot! 😁

That's interesting. I'll be honest, I don't know what it means though. Does it make them different in any meaningful way?

Not sure, but it looks like the one with the oscillator is a later revision (based on the serial number). So, they must have added it for a reason. A quick glance of my SB collection, it seems that all models since this SB PRO 2 revision have this oscillator except for the AWE64(GOLD). Earlier models do not.

Doornkaat wrote on 2023-01-23, 08:34:

Oh, that looks like the connector has been desoldered. The through holes are a little damaged and one via on the left took a bit of a beating from what looks like someone leveraging the connector with a flat head screw driver but it doesn't look like anything is too damaged to just solder a new connector back in.
Makes me wonder why this board was chosen as a donor. Have you tested it yet? Fingers crossed for it to work!

+1
The ISA slot was definitely desoldered, otherwise the holes in the board would have been filled with tin solder.

I got this Acer MAGIC S30 a while ago on eBay. Not super cheap but not really expensive either. Some of the nuts and bolts where a bit rusty and overall the card was a bit dirty so I gave it some TLC (a spin in the dishwasher and rinse with lots of IPA), tested it today and it works like a charm.

danieljm wrote on 2023-01-23, 09:24:

That's interesting. I'll be honest, I don't know what it means though. Does it make them different in any meaningful way?

pan069 wrote on 2023-01-23, 09:50:

Not sure, but it looks like the one with the oscillator is a later revision (based on the serial number). So, they must have added it for a reason. A quick glance of my SB collection, it seems that all models since this SB PRO 2 revision have this oscillator except for the AWE64(GOLD). Earlier models do not.

The onboard oscillator crystal helps to avoid timing issues between the motherboard and ISA bus.

pan069 wrote on 2023-01-23, 10:03:

I got this Acer MAGIC S30 a while ago on eBay. Not super cheap but not really expensive either. Some of the nuts and bolts where a bit rusty and overall the card was a bit dirty so I gave it some TLC (a spin in the dishwasher and rinse with lots of IPA), tested it today and it works like a charm.

PXL_20230115_053543388.jpg

It sure looks clean.

liqmat wrote on 2023-01-22, 17:10:

HanJammer wrote on 2023-01-22, 16:22:

liqmat wrote on 2023-01-21, 21:33:

The A500 is a very solid case and certainly not cheaply built, but hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion. To each their own.

Compared to the cheapest options from this era - yes, it's pretty solid, but compared to the case mentioned in this thread or some other quality options like Enlight EN-7230 for example, yes, it's pretty cheaply built.

Like I said. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I had both of those cases, at one point, in multiples. The Enlight case you mention, in my opinion, was nowhere near as solid of a case as the A500. This is a niche hobby with many options to choose from. As long as you're happy with what you have, that's all that matters.

Opinions - sure, but what I'm saying is a matter of fact not the matter of opinion - build quality, material quality and so on are very easy to compare you know. It's not like I'm saying one looks better than the other or something like that. 😀

CREATIVE! Sound BLASTER! 16!!! SCSI!!!!!!!!!!!! CT1770.

Delivering EARTH shattering sound quality! Prepare to have your socks blown off! (not). 😁

Damn animals ... though, belive it or not I still have a plan to rescue this basket case. Some time down the line an episode will pop up on my thread. 😁

Gmlb256 wrote on 2023-01-23, 12:44:

danieljm wrote on 2023-01-23, 09:24:

That's interesting. I'll be honest, I don't know what it means though. Does it make them different in any meaningful way?

pan069 wrote on 2023-01-23, 09:50:

Not sure, but it looks like the one with the oscillator is a later revision (based on the serial number). So, they must have added it for a reason. A quick glance of my SB collection, it seems that all models since this SB PRO 2 revision have this oscillator except for the AWE64(GOLD). Earlier models do not.

The onboard oscillator crystal helps to avoid timing issues between the motherboard and ISA bus.

Okay cool. Thanks for enlightening me.

Now every time I hear an audio bug on the card without the oscillator I'm gonna wonder if that's the culprit. 😁

Robert B wrote on 2023-01-23, 16:15:

CREATIVE! Sound BLASTER! 16!!! SCSI!!!!!!!!!!!! CT1770. […]
Show full quote

CREATIVE! Sound BLASTER! 16!!! SCSI!!!!!!!!!!!! CT1770.

Delivering EARTH shattering sound quality! Prepare to have your socks blown off! (not). 😁

Damn animals ... though, belive it or not I still have a plan to rescue this basket case. Some time down the line an episode will pop up on my thread. 😁

Ugh. That's so painful. Look how they massacred your boy!

Robert B wrote on 2023-01-23, 16:15:

CREATIVE! Sound BLASTER! 16!!! SCSI!!!!!!!!!!!! CT1770. […]
Show full quote

CREATIVE! Sound BLASTER! 16!!! SCSI!!!!!!!!!!!! CT1770.

Delivering EARTH shattering sound quality! Prepare to have your socks blown off! (not). 😁

Damn animals ... though, belive it or not I still have a plan to rescue this basket case. Some time down the line an episode will pop up on my thread. 😁

Typical case of someone going mad while trying to install Creative drivers and wanting to save others of the same fate...
Not that improbable imho.

Besides that it's in very good condition. Very clean and tidy. Almost like new. You should be proud of owning one like that!

Robert B wrote on 2023-01-23, 16:15:

CREATIVE! Sound BLASTER! 16!!! SCSI!!!!!!!!!!!! CT1770.

Delivering EARTH shattering sound quality! Prepare to have your socks blown off! (not). 😁

Damn animals ... though, belive it or not I still have a plan to rescue this basket case. Some time down the line an episode will pop up on my thread. 😁

Looks like the poor card was in the middle of a gunfight! Or someone was annoyed at the MIDI hanging note bug and used it as target practice...

Robert B wrote on 2023-01-23, 16:15:

CREATIVE! Sound BLASTER! 16!!! SCSI!!!!!!!!!!!! CT1770. […]
Show full quote

CREATIVE! Sound BLASTER! 16!!! SCSI!!!!!!!!!!!! CT1770.

Delivering EARTH shattering sound quality! Prepare to have your socks blown off! (not). 😁

Damn animals ... though, belive it or not I still have a plan to rescue this basket case. Some time down the line an episode will pop up on my thread. 😁

Wow! It shows how some people go too far with stuff they don't like. 🙁

ChrisK wrote on 2023-01-23, 16:39:

Typical case of someone going mad while trying to install Creative drivers and wanting to save others of the same fate...
Not that improbable imho.

It is an early SB16 variant where it isn't complicated to install the drivers.

I am wondering if it was some warranty policy either from a distributor or retail, or higher in the pipe, faulty cards get the drill.

Robert B wrote on 2023-01-23, 16:15:

CREATIVE! Sound BLASTER! 16!!! SCSI!!!!!!!!!!!! CT1770. […]
Show full quote

CREATIVE! Sound BLASTER! 16!!! SCSI!!!!!!!!!!!! CT1770.

Delivering EARTH shattering sound quality! Prepare to have your socks blown off! (not). 😁

Damn animals ... though, belive it or not I still have a plan to rescue this basket case. Some time down the line an episode will pop up on my thread. 😁

WTF WHY??!!

Robert B wrote on 2023-01-23, 16:15:

CREATIVE! Sound BLASTER! 16!!! SCSI!!!!!!!!!!!! CT1770. […]
Show full quote

CREATIVE! Sound BLASTER! 16!!! SCSI!!!!!!!!!!!! CT1770.

Delivering EARTH shattering sound quality! Prepare to have your socks blown off! (not). 😁

Damn animals ... though, belive it or not I still have a plan to rescue this basket case. Some time down the line an episode will pop up on my thread. 😁

Why would anyone want to destroy these cards? These are clearly destroyed on purpose.

My hunch is that they wanted to test it for precious metals but I think that even the use of a torch to remove the chips would've been way better. All is not lost though. Two holes are in the ground plane and the traces on the third are easy fixes. If I find a donor I'll scavenge the chips. Someone told me that usually on these old cards the layers are mainly ground so I'll try to see what's what. 😁

L.E. Or maybe they held classified sounds from the DN 4ever that actually was never released?! 😁

It arrived today, I wasn't looking for this model but a simple Sound Blaster 16. Instead, I found this on a sales site at a price that was not very low but not even close to the stellar one found on Ebay. Going back to the Sound Blaster, some say it's the spearhead of OPL cards. The card is incredibly long and unexpectedly does not reach the case supports…

Something new for my collection 😁

kixs wrote on 2023-01-23, 19:29:

Something new for my collection :D […]
Show full quote

Something new for my collection 😁

Oh cool! I've never seen a boxed Maxi Sound like that.

Seems vaguely like the card I got recently, except yours has that fantastic ESS Audiodrive built in and is probably far easier to get working in DOS. 😀